bring back

Verb

bring back (third-person singular simple present brings back, present participle bringing back, simple past and past participle brought back)

1. (ditransitive, transitive) To fetch something.
   • I brought back the groceries.
   • If you're going to the store, could you bring me back some chocolate?
2. (transitive) To cause someone to remember something from the past.
   • The smell of the magnolia brought back sweet memories of my childhood.
3. (transitive) To reenact an old rule or law.
   • In the UK it is customary to hold a vote every few years on whether to bring back the death penalty.
4. (transitive) To revive, to resurrect; to cause something dead to be alive once again.
   • Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,
     ⁠Nor other thought her mind admits
     ⁠But, he was dead, and there he sits,
     And he that brought him back is there.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXXII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 51
   • The old man turned and regarded her, and his voice shook. "He has been dead ten days, and besides he — I would not tell you else, but — I could only recognize him by his clothing. If he was too terrible for you to see then, how now?" / "Bring him back," cried the old woman, and dragged him toward...1901, W. W. Jacobs, The Monkey's Paw